


The Structure of Blood

by larryshipgoeson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:09:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4500165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larryshipgoeson/pseuds/larryshipgoeson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is doing everything in his powers to find the one. The genius that killed all those people without being caught. To do that, he is willing to copy every move and risk everything he has. Is he going to succeed?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Another body has been found in the Novello street. Once again a chess figure was left standing next to it, investigative forces revealing it was a horse. The police are doing everything they can to stop this killing maniac. If you have any information, please call 911.” The reporter said and moved on to tell the audience more bad news.  


It wasn’t surprising to him that there was so much negativity in the world. The people brought it on themselves. He took the remote control and turned the TV off, sitting quietly for a moment. Despite being alone in the apartment he started laughing out loud. Nothing unusual for him, he was able to carry on monologues hours long.  


“Smart boy,” he said standing up, going to his printer to take out the wet paint smelling paper with a picture of a middle-age man on it, “but he isn’t smarter than me.” He went on, pinning the picture to a big dashboard.  


There have already been several faces hanging, from a 23 years old college student to an old man from a retirement home. The police didn’t see any connections, but on his wall there have been a few red strings between the pictures reminding him of similarities and patterns. He knew, because he had already gone through this. He did everything so perfectly, he could show his face in the street every day and noone would have a clue about everything he has achieved in his short life.  


“Noone is smarter than me.” He said, standing there with his hands crossed, admiring his freshly made remarks.  


“I am Louis Tomlinson.” He finished proudly, moving his eyes to another board hanging on the wall.  


It was so full some of the pictures were overlapping, but he refused to take any of them down. He liked being greeted by the faces of every single one of his victims. Underneath the pin board, on the table next to the chess board, a deck of cards was spread carefully, as if he was about to read someone's future. He did nothing to it though, only watched it with joy.

 ******************

Harry was rushing up the stairs, eager to get home. He heard some of it from the many overpriced screens in the mall, but couldn’t wait to hear everything they had on him so far. He opened the door and found his roommate lounging on the couch.  


“Welcome home, Edward.” She said, not bothering to turn away from her computer screen.  


“I will kill you if you call me by my middle name one more time!” He answered laughing, running into his room.  


He meant it as a joke, but if his sweet best friend knew, she would probably run for her life when hearing this sentence.  


His room was spacious, but there really wasn’t anything that would make it personal. He kept it clean, keeping all the research in the boxes under his bed, only the currently needed files he locked in his drawers.  


He sat down, eager to search every news source possible. He was nervous, altough not really knowing why, because he was certain everything he was doing was untraceable. Harry knew that it wasn’t going to take much longer to find him. The reason he is doing all of this. He wasn’t going to give up until every single step was done the same way, every detail created with precision, leading to him in the end.  


Sometimes his own thoughts scared him, but mostly he got used to the things he had to plan out and carry out with his own hands after, but nothing will ever be as frightening and exciting as the things he felt after the first time he made someone's heart stop beating.

\---------

It was almost one and a half year ago. It seemed much longer to him, but he still remembered every wrinkle on the man’s face. He remembered how he got to his house so easily it was ridiculous.  


To Harry’s surprise, there was only one security camera at the main gate, leaving him unbothered as he entered from the back, coming through the woods.  


It was a mansion, with many people working there, making it effortless for Harry to blend in.  


For a few days he felt very insecure, but he soothed himself by knowing he is killing the bad guys, anyway.  


After getting to know the schedule of everyone present in the house he finally gathered enough courage to finish his plan. He felt bad for the man being his first victim ever, as if he was the first laboratory rat to get injected with something what noone knew would do. He didn’t like not knowing how it is going to feel and look after, but he sacrificed so much to get there he quickly overcame those fears.  


Posing as one of the caretakers, he knocked on the door of his office.  


“Come in.” The man said. His name was Richard Clark and he was born on 22nd of July, 1958. Harry memorized these data about everyone who’s life he ended.  


Richard’s office was the biggest Harry had ever seen. He sat behind a massive wooden table as Harry went to sit opposite to him, fascinated by the shelves full of books surrounding the whole room.  


He took a seat, putting a stack of papers he carried on the table. He stole them from another, legit caretaker as the house owner’s signature was needed on many of them, which Harry could use as the perfect excuse to get to him.  


“I am very sorry to bother you, sir,” Harry started as the man focused his surprised look on Harry’s hands being buried in black leather gloves, “but here are some documents requiring your signature right now.”  


“Sit down.” He answered annoyed, his tone making it easier for Harry to imagine the lifeless body laying on the floor.  


He did so, his right hand kept behind his back, ready to take out the gun at any moment. Harry decided to wait until he finished signing everything, thinking of his flesh getting pierced by the bullet, not being able to decide between tearing apart his heart or his brain.  


“You new here?” The man with asked putting his expensive cigar down and picking up a pen of similar price.  


“My second day, sir.” Harry politely answered.  


Richard nodded and got to work, not because it needed to be done, but more because he wanted to finally be left alone.  


As he finished the last loop on his signature and put the pen down on the table, Harry pulled out the gun and shot two times. One to his heart, one to his head as he couldn’t choose. He didn’t have to care about any disturbance as there was a sound suppressor on the gun, so all that was heard as he pulled a trigger was a quick clicking sound.  


The heavy body slid down the chair rather comically, which made Harry laugh. He imagined the whole thing being much more dramatic, at the end it was just a pile of bones and meat slowly falling under the table. He didn’t feel guilt or remorse. The thing that bothered him the most was that he used a gun. He didn’t have to, but then he wouldn’t go in the exact footsteps of his hero. Still, he was glad it was the last time he ever had to hold a gun. It didn’t feel right that he could just use it from the distance, not even using his own hands to take the thing most precious to a human being, not being able to feel someone’s last breath on his skin, as if he was cheating.  


Harry decided to leave the gun there, as a souvenire, knowing noone would get to him anyway. He walked over to the other side of the table, slowly running his fingers over it, feeling the wood being more alive than any of the people that ever touched it. Stopping next to the laying body, he moved the chair Richard previously sat on and shifted his body to the middle of the room, so it would be the first thing anyone sees as they enter the office.  


Everybody was asleep and he embraced the quiet, sat down into the beautiful vintage chair, relaxed and breathed in the smell of the smoke coming out of the cigar and all the old books waiting on the shelves.  


He might have not agreed with the approach or the selection of the weapon, but there was something incredibly peaceful about the outcome. It wasn’t like he wanted to do it again right away, he liked the planning, every second filled with precision, the actual deed, the feeling after that he couldn’t explain. He was sure he was going to get what he wanted in the end, as all the people ending up with their empty eyes facing the ceiling get what they deserve.  


Feeling invincible, he stood up, roaming around the room, enjoying his last moments there. Then he got back to the corpse on the floor, stroking his hand, he pulled the gun out once more time to place everything into a final position. He must have been taking in the atmosphere of the room much longer than he though, as black stains started appearing on his body and his fingers were much harder to separate to put the gun in his hand. He finally planted his right arm as he pictured, bent, with the weapon placed where the beating of the heart can be heard the best, leaving the left hand laying as it was, planting the first chess figure in his palm.  


When he took the handle of the door, prepared to leave his art behind, he looked over one more time with nothing but pride in his eyes. 

\---------------

Harry got home not too long before his roommate Alexa was supposed to get up, but to his surprised she was still wide awake staring into a laptop.  


“You went partying without me?” She asked, faking being offended, but failing as her smile gave her up.  


“It was a bore, anyway. If you were there with me you would have dragged me away hours ago.” He said, creating the lie so easily, surprising himself how smoothly it flew out of his mouth.  


“This time, I pardon you.” She answered laughing.  


Harry nodded and left with the excuse of being tired. After taking a long shower, he laid on his bed. He wasn’t planning on going to sleep anytime soon, the excitement running thorugh his body being too powerful to let him. The reality for once was better than dreams as he revisited the scene over and over again.

 

Harry unlocked one of his table drawers and took out a thick book. There was a title, overlying half the cover, with a gold font outline that said Yellow Pages. Every serial killer has to have one, he thought jokingly, not understanding how someone can let their phone number or even adress be published in a book available to anyone in the world. It was the most important thing present in his life at the moment. He knew anyone of their nature, someone that is like him, they wouldn’t choose their victims just randomly. It would seem like that to everyone, but not to them. There had to be a connection or a pattern visible only to the chosen people. Not instantly, of course, he had to work for it. That is why he decided to do all this.  


He opened the book, where he had a paper folded, with all the victims of the one he’s trying to find in one collumn and his in the other one. There were only two more names in the left one. Harry knew he would be the one to find him and he felt honored.  


It wasn’t so hard to tell why noone else could. Everyone thought they are so unique. They still do. That the people around them are the best, that they couldn’t meet anyone else who would be as amazing as their loved ones. The truth is they are all the same. The douchebag running around the girl that is too good for him, the kind mom of their best friend, the career woman who got bitter because she missed her chance to have the ideal life with the big house and a lot of kids, the plumber that complains about his job everytime he comes to fix something, the man you only see every few months walking down the street with a different woman every time. Everyone has their role. The only thing that changes is who in these infitely repetitive groups of people are they. In this group, Harry is the murderer. That was his biggest lead.  


The people around him, the victims, they had the same role as someone around Harry, there were the same connections. If anyone had seen a cell for the first time, they wouldn’t be able to identify the nucleus right away. But if they had learned about all the other organelles, what they do and why are they doing it, people would eventually deduce which one the nucleus is without ever stuying it.  


All Harry had to do was learn the connections in the cell, between every organella, which might seem unimportant, but he was too smart not to pay attention to them. He had to go through all that so he would understand the position of the most important part.  


Sure, he could do it all without the actual killing, but it was not in his powers to miss out on such an adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was woken up by a knock on the door to his room. He didn’t even got to write another name on the paper before he passed out on the table. Alexa grabbed the handle a few times to find the door locked. Harry never did that, but he was glad that the night before he did, he wouldn’t want her to ask questions. 

“Why is your door locked? Come on, we’re gonna be late!” She shouted at him through the wooden barrier louder than needed.

“I’m coming!” Harry shouted back. 

He put everything back to the drawer he took it from. Even though he did his work so perfectly that no stains or smells were recognizable, he quickly changed, grabbed a pack of gum from the table, his bag from underneath the table and opened the door.

“Sorry, I must’ve lock this door instead of the entrance door.” Harry said pretending embarassment.

"Wow, you must've been hammered. Didn't you say it was a bore?" His best friend teased him. 

"Yeah, I got drunk and even after that I had to leave." Harry replied jokingly.

"That bad, huh?" She laughed. "Let's go then!"

\--------

"Tendinous chords, or in latin chordae tendineae, connect the papillary muscles to the valves, the tricuspid valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle and the mitral valve between those two things on the left side of the heart. They basically work as a parachute, preventing the blood from flowing back." The teacher explained.

Harry liked biology a lot and even though he's been listening to the same stuff for years over and over again, he didn't mind it as long as it was about human body. Especially the heart, the muscle that pumps blood to your whole body, that was the one that fascinated him the most. He was a bit sad that it was his last year, that he wouldn't hear these things in class ever again. Everyone was about to get a job, meet their soulmate, have kids, build a house, work some more, die. 

Harry wasn't about this kind of life, altough he thought about it sometimes. If he was to choose what would he want to do, he would probably become a doctor. Not because of the money, nor he yearned for an acknowledgment. The simple act of changing someone's life and the power over them. He would play God. He could imagine himself doing surgeries one after another, just have the chance to discover the set of functioning tissues that make us stay alive. He was sure he wouldn't get tired of it, everyone's insides must be so different he would learn something new every day while being able to repair what's broken. 

In a way, it could be said that he did the same many times. The people he dealt with were also very broken. The only difference was that they couldn't be fixed, so he sent them somewhere else. Somewhere their problems would dissapear along with them. A variety of behavior patterns show the moment they beg for their life, which means he also gets to discover the individuality and uniqueness of every mindset he comes across with in the end. After all, giving a chance of life and taking it from someone can't be that different, not to the people that have the power.

"Mr. Styles, what nerve gives the heart an impulse to make a beat?" The teacher asked in a haughty manner, thinking Harry wouldn't know the answer as he was immersed in daydreaming.

"The organ has its own independent cardiac conduction system that initiates the contraction. It consists of two nodes, the atrioventricular and the sinu-atrial node being the pacemaker, located at the superior end of the crista terminalis. Cardiac innervation doesn't give the heart an impulse to beat, but the autonomic division of the perpheral nervous system is responsible for regulating heart rate or the force of the contraction." Harry answered flawlessly, smiling with satisfaction, giving the class more information than the teacher ever did, leaving her speechless.

Some of his classmates had a hard time surpressing a laugh as the teacher turned away from Harry in silence and went on as if nothing happened.

Harry was a bright young man, he was the kind of student who only needed to hear everything once to be able to repeat it word by word. His grades only confirmed that. He was actually thinking about going to medical school, but it was before he discovered his true calling. Maybe he would apply for it anyway, just to find out if he would get in or not.

"Hey," a boy behind him named Josh poked another student, "another murder."

Harry focused his hearing on them. On the boys' faces appeared both fear and curiousness as they stared into a phone reading an article about the next victim.

"No way, it was the same guy, a chess figure again." Josh said.

"That's crazy. Did your dad tell you anything about it?" The other one asked.

"Well, he's all about following rules and not telling classified information to his son. But he also brings his work home." The boy answered with a smirk.

The bell rang and before the teacher was given a chance to finish her sentence, everyone started packing their bags and leaving the classroom, the two boys running out first, continuing their debate and discovering new information in the halls.

Harry knew one of his classmates' parent was working on the case, but he didn't know who it was. It didn't scare him, if anything, it made him more excited. It was also quite a big advantage to him having someone running around, giving out secret information in the middle of the class so he can comfortably listen to all of it. It wouldn't be a problem for Harry to get into their computers and get all he needed. He was forced to learn a lot of new things to accomplish what he aims for, but what is the reason to use them and lose time when he is given everything he wants on a silver plate right under his nose.  
It was the last period for both him and his roommate. He found Alexa in the crowd of students eager to get out of the school and going on to enjoy the better part of the day. He didn't mind going to school, but he was also impatient to get home to read the news the boys in biology class were talking about.

\--------------------------

"Wanna watch some telly with your bestest friend?" Alexa asked him after she kicked the remaining shoe out of her foot and threw her bag on the floor.

"I'd love to, but I have to finish something." Harry said truthfully. He needed to update his list and start the preparation for his next work.

"Oh, come on, you are always working, do they give you that much shit to do in that biology class?" She sounded sorry for him, but was also glad she didn't choose the class. 

She got art instead. She became very interested in desinging clothes lately, drawing dresses on long-legged sketched ladies every possible moment.

"Give me half an hour and then I will watch even Desperate Houseviwes with you, okay?" Harry said genuinely.

"Alright, that's a deal then!" Alexa shouted at Harry who was already closing the door to his room. She was very happy she had a friend like him.

They lived together for more than two years. They understood each other and she could tell him anything, feeling he was doing the same. She loved him. Not in a romantic way, he was like a family to her. There was never anything between them except the time they met.

It was about four years ago, they met through a mutual friend at one of the house parties hosted by a rich guy they were too young to know personally. They instantly found a topic to talk about and basically haven't run out of them since then. As the party went on, a few shots were inevitable. Alexa didn't hide thinking Harry was a handsome young man, with his amazing long brown hair and green eyes that had the ability to stare right into your soul. Approximately after one bottle of tequila, the ethanol temporary poisoning their blood made them feel comfortable enough to get so close their lips brushed against each others. It lasted nearly two seconds before they both burst out laughing uncontrolably. They acknowledged it was a very weird moment between them and that it would be best if they stayed friends. It might have been too soon to tell, just after a few drinks and a few hours, but they were right. They never got sick of the company. Alexa was only a bit sad Harry had to do a lot of homeworks. He used to be so much fun, but for the last maybe year or a year an a half he was closed in his room, focusing on his courses. She certainly understood he wanted a bright future, she just wished the school wouldn't be so hard on Harry, consuming a big part of his free time.

Harry made himself comfortable in his chair, opened his laptop and took out everything he needed. The Yellow Pages with the list of names folded in it and two notebooks. He never googled news about the murders as anyone can get into someone's computer these days. He didn't have to though, there were always all the links he needed on the local web portal. He clicked on every single one of them to only look interested in the city events, but he didn't bother reading them before clicking the little x in the right corner. The only pages left open were the ones about his deeds. He read through all the articles. They didn't even know, if the chess and cards are being placed by the same person or not. He wasn't worried about police having more than is actually told in the media, the journalists were capable of anything to get a piece of anything first and the investigation surely needed help from the citizens as they have no witnesses or leads. They had nothing on him.

He put his laptop aside for a moment, making space for the big notebooks. He opened both of them on the second to last page. In one of them there was a photograph and a full page of text, the other one was blank. In less than a week, it would be filled with information about his next victim. In the first book he had everything he was able to gather on the victims of the one he is trying to find. It was like a portfolio of an artist. The only difference was the author wasn't running around showing it off whenever he could. Those two books could be the only thing that could make him look suspicious if discovered, but he wasn't afraid of that happening.

He was ready to start the research to pinpoint the exact person who was about to become his next victim.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis got out of bed at his usual time, 8 o'clock. He was lucky enough to work somewhere he didn't have to get up too soon, that would probably be something he wouldn't be able to survive. It always suited him better to get up a bit later and go to sleep past midnight. Altough he had it set, he didn't even need an alarm to be woken up by at that time everyday anymore.

He turned the TV on to watch the news, as he did everyday. He liked adventure, but with certain things he enjoyed the routine. After a few unimportant news the reporter finally started talking about the murders. From the little they revealed he was able to tell that it was done in the same manner. It was perfect, because someone did it the same way as he did. At first, Louis was angry that someone is trying to take credit for his work, but later he actually became a fan, admiring the dedication and commitment of whoever is going to such lenghts to find him. He was almost done and Louis couldn't wait to meet this person.

Louis finished his breakfast quickly. He loved the true English breakfast, with bacon, eggs and much more, the rich plate waiting just for him.

He threw his bag over his shoulder, locked the door behind him and went to work. He had it quite close, so he walked there every day. He enjoyed the morning air, fresh and cold, not the sharp kind that made his fingers feel like someone was stabbing needles in them, but the little chill that carressed his face accompanied by the summer breeze running through his brown hair. He felt more awake and alive with every breath he took.

It usually takes him about twenty minutes to get to work, but sometimes, like today, he changes his usual route to appreciate the mother nature more. It was a miracle if he ever saw someone who wasn't rushing. Most of the people he would never even meet, because they were stuck in a traffic, nervously and angrily honking at each other. The time they spent doing that probably equals the time it would take every single one of them to get whenever they need by feet, stopping at every amazing flower in the park or chasing after every bird that caught their eye. And they would save a lot of money on gas.

He finally got to his office, greeting everyone he met with an honest smile. He put his bag down and turned the computer on. Louis worked in a record company, discovering new talents. He loved his job and he loved music. He enjoyed some light tunes celebrating life, but he was truly passionate about the kind of music that made him want to march into a battlefield and take out everyone who stood against him, not really mattering if he was the good or the bad guy. It wasn't a heavy music like rock or metal, altough he didn't hate it. It was a simple music he liked listening to, with deep beats that hit in the right spot, eerie melody and lyrics worth fighting for. He liked other music too, something not violent, but with a message. The word that could be used to describe the music he loved the most was void.

He had his favourites, but that didn't by any means compromise the quality of his work. He was very good at showing the people the music they needed. Quite often he chose an artist that spoke to him over something that everyone knew would sell quickly. He wasn't about the money, for him it was about the mark the music left on the listener's mind. The world has changed a lot and the threatening void music spoke not only to him, but to the masses of angry evil-driven human beings living in today's society. If he liked the song on the first listen, that was the one. Actually, he believed it could be told in the first five seconds, whether or not it was a song for him. It was worth it to go through the oceans of repetitive tracks with no structure whatsoever to find those that deserved his full attention.

He did it for years, but never felt bored, only excited for the journey ahead of him.

"How's it going, Tommo?" Jeff asked, sticking his head into Louis’ office. 

“Fine, I discovered a great act yesterday.”Louis answered.

“Really? What’s the name of the act?” Jeff wondered.

“Yeah, like I’m telling you that. I’m gonna go see them live tomorrow, don’t worry.” Louis laughed.

“One day, Tommo, one day I will find a star brighter than everyone you ever signed combined.” Jeff said with a pretend threatening voice and as he was backing out of Louis’ office his expression turned into a grin. 

All the other people Louis worked were nothing more than colleagues to him. Jeff was the closest things he had to a best friend. He didn’t like that he called him Tommo very much, but Jeff seemed to be so proud of thinking of it, that he decided to let him have something. They lived pretty close to each other, but didn’t spend time together outside of work. Louis never wondered if Jeff would want to do something and didn’t have the need to ask. He tolerated his presence and sometimes even truly enjoyed it. 

They have known each other for years. Jeff used to work for a different record company and they met for the first time when they were each trying to sign one amazing singer-songwriter. He just started and was very young and unexperienced, but Louis saw a big potential in the guy and basically stole him for the company he works for. Jeff isn’t better than Louis at his job, but he doesn’t envy him or anything, he is grateful for everything he had done for him, he was a mentor for him and thought him everything he knew about the music business and helped him perfect his skills he used in his job everyday. 

Louis’ used to be the Artist and Repertoire Director, so his job consisted of a lot of meeting about budgets, managing the staff and other things that were more about watching over everyone and everything else and he didn’t have that much time to give to the undiscovered geniuses composing in their bedrooms, putting their songs on the Internet for free. He gave that position up to do what he loved the most and what he was the best at. 

Altough Louis had until the next day to prepare for seeing the new act live, he still had a lot of work to do. He was working with more artists than one at a time. He had some more meeting about the artist he discovered some time ago. It was a young woman, with a beautiful deep voice. She could play quite a few instruments, produce her own music and write incredible lyrics. Her music had a soul and it was a pleasure to work with her. There wasn’t very much to change on her image or behavior as she was very humble, but focused. She had already put out an album by herself so the genre and the direction she would probably dive into were shaping up already. Even though some of her songs were, her music overall wasn’t void, as he would call it, but it had that something, a mystery vibe he just couldn’t resist. Her name was Shelby, and she was his favourite artist at the moment. There was nothing crutial he needed to do to launch her career, all he could do was offer her professional producers and a worldwide promo, which were the topics of his upcoming meetings. Currently they were on a quest to choose a team of people that she will be working with on her next album, new music videos and possible tour. 

\---

The day has gone by quite quickly for Louis. They didn’t finish everything, but they still had the next day morning, which was enough time to finish. He went home with a very good feeling of what future holds for Shelby. 

Besides the mezmerizing surroundings, the walk between Louis’ office and his home also served as a bridge for his thoughts. As much as he enjoyed everything he did in his work, he had to also leave it there. At first, he tried to be kind and give something a listen when asked to, but most of the time the stuff wasn’t good, so he soon learned to trust his judgement only instead of trying to please everybody. 

He was ready to get to the second part of his day, slowly setting his mind to it as he went on, eager to finally put together the progress of everything that has been happening and predict upcoming moves of the ambicious murderer.

\---

Usually, Louis relaxed for a bit on the sofa in the middle of his living room and watched some TV, but this time he was too curious. 

He made himself a cup of tea and sat down to begin. Looking up to his big pinboards, he only count two more pictures on his. It was almost done. 

The next one coming had to be a man. He selected him for his crimes against society. Cheating on his kind wife with an unsuspecting lady, keeping secrets about money despite having too much of it and not being very law-friendly when it came to his successful company. He had many chances to make a good choice, to put the bad behind, but he always decided to look past them. He remembered leaving his last Joker with the body. That man was a liar, capable to do anything to get his way, which was the reason Louis chose this card. The chess figure the other killer was about to use should be a queen, as he already did before. Louis didn’t know, if the colours of those figures placed with the body had any meaning. He was thinking one day he might be able to ask the one personally. If he would be able to finish. The murder that was about to happen was the worst one. The most cruel and painful one, the memory leaving goosebumps on Louis’ body as if it was yesterday even though it happened many months after. 

The day of the last murder still wouldn’t be the end. Louis knew police or FBI or whoever wouldn’t find him, but it was for the people like him he took precaution. Even if someone was to crack the connections, it wouldn’t so unambiguous. There would not be Louis Tomlinson left circled with the ‘murdeder’ sign underneath on the page, next to a dozen crossed out names. It wouldn’t be over, because Louis made sure there would be not one, but two names left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: sleep paralysis

The victim was a middle aged man. Harry read through everything he had in the notebook and felt extremely uneasy. The manner in which was the deed done was so unappealing to Harry it made his stomach turn. He was taking it as a test of his loyalty. As he gets through this one, the last one will be a pleasure, a victory. He rushed the picture out of his head and opened his laptop.  


He looked up all the news he could find about the murder that happened several months ago. As the reporters didn't struggle to keep secrets when it came to names, he comfortably looked up the man himself, his wife and even his mistress on social media. There was even an interview with his wife available, where she talked about her husband, how she knew he had an affair, how she knew he was a sinner.  


There was a Joker left with the body, which meant it wasn't just the cheating, there had to be something else to. On the table, he put a black horse. He chose horse where the other man put Jokers. It felt right to him as the horse runs around corners not really caring who it is going to jump over. He didn't have a key for using the colors, but this time he chose black for the way of the murder.  


Harry didn't know what was the other thing was yet, but he knew he'd find out soon. On the dead man's profile, there was so many pictures from his fancy parties and yachts that something would point him in the right direction. It was ridiculous how the old men shared almost everything to be cool for the younger people. There surely were girls and boys who bought it and would do anything to get on board.  


There were a few people who’s faces appeared on the photos quite often. He decided to check them out, but it was a dead end.  


Harry looked at the clock to see it was almost two in the morning. It didn’t seem like he was working for so long, but it always run fast, especially when he was watching so many videos. He got up to get something to get water. In the living room, he found Alexa sitting quietly on the sofa in the dark. She held her knees to her chin and had her eyes closed forcibly. She was absently swaying back to forth and her breath was heavy and slow. Harry wanted to help her, but didn’t really know how. He put the glass on the table, sat next to her and put his hands around her. She jerked, but as she made sure those really are Harry’s big arms she calmed down and let herself drown in the touch of another person.  


“Shh, it’s okay. I am here now.” Harry said quietly, pulling her closer.  


“It happened again.” She said.  


Alexa suffered from sleep paralysis from time to time, but she was alright for a long time. She wasn’t stressed, she was sleeping enough, she did everything right. None of them knew why it came back.  


“I know, but it’s gone. It was just a dream.” Harry answered.  


She knew well it was just a dream. When it happened for the first time, she was so afraid she wasn’t able to fall asleep for two days until she was dead tired and basically passed out. It felt so real, a man standing over her laying in bed, chanting something unintelligible over and over again, while she couldn’t move a muscle or scream. She just waited in fear of what is going to happen. Eventually, she woke up, scared for her life.  
With time, she learned to recognize it wasn’t real sooner and sooner after waking up with every passed episode. This time it was different, partly because it didn’t happen to her in such a long time.  


“Do you want to talk about it?” Harry asked gently, not letting go of his tight grip.  


“It was like nothing before.” She started.  


Harry heard a few of her episodes, she didn’t usually wanted to talk about it right away, but opened up in a day or two. He remembered how she told him about one where she was sleeping on her side. She thought she woke up, feeling a hand running down her hair and neck. She felt goosebumps all over her body, but couldn’t move an inch. She didn’t know how, but she knew that it was a woman with a long sparce blond hair, and a young face, yet wrinkled. Like a corpse in the early stages of decay. Alexa described she could feel her eyes widen in horror. The hand stopped touching her for a moment, but that didn’t bring relief. It wasn’t physically posible to see that far to the side, but in the dream she somehow saw the woman’s hand held out in the air, when a knife run through the left side of her neck. It didn’t hurt at all, but she could feel a warm blood heavily flow, coloring her chest and arm. After that, she woke up, frantically running her hand over her neck to find nothing wrong with it. She told him it was the worst one that happened to her.  


He also remembered quite a funny one. Well, he believed it wasn’t funny for her at the moment. She was having a sleep-over at a girl’s house and sleeping on her back she thought the girl tried to smother her with a pillow. In the morning, Alexa run out of their house so fast she didn’t even know if she had everything. She haven’t talked to that girl much since, but she laughed it off saying she didn’t like her very much anyway.  


Harry wondered, if what Alexa was feeling in her episodes, if any of his victim felt that too. If they are this terrified. It wouldn’t change anything for him if they did, but he knew for sure that Alexa didn’t deserve this.  


Alexa took a breath as if she was about to start talking, which brought Harry back to reality.  


“Whoever was there, they weren’t real. I am and I am here with you.” Harry reassured her once again. He knew she was going to be alright in the morning. She even embraced it sometimes, it was scary, but interesting phenomenon. He never saw her this terrified though.  


“The thing is, noone was there. It was all black. I was the only thing lucid in the nothingness, emptiness. I thought I was dead.” She said, her voice shaking.  


Harry didn’t really know what to tell her. She usually got over it by herself, just realizing it was a bad dream.  


“Is this what death feels like?” She whispered. Her breathing started getting heavier and heavier. Her finger started shaking, spreading the sensation to her arms and legs with every breath she took.  


“What’s going on? I can’t stop the shaking, what is happening?” She was about to have a panic attack.  


Harry got up and ran to kitchen to find a paper bag. He went through the cupboards, but only found a plastic one. He thought it would have to do and rushed back to Alexa, putting the bag to her mouth to breath into it.  


She did so and in a few minutes, her breathing got slower. She asked Harry for water, feeling exhausted.  


Soon enough, she could put the plastic bag away and the shaking stopped. She took a big gulp of the water in front of her.  


“What the hell was that?” She asked. She knew what happened, the shaking, the breathing, but had no idea how long in lasted and didn’t remember everything she said.  


“You had a panic attack.” Harry said gently, bringing her more water.  


“Well, to be honest, I’m not that surprised, after what I saw. This was hands down the worst episode I ever had.” She said seriously.  


Harry felt sorry for her, but also a bit curious what was it like.  


Alexa noticed Harry’s concerned look and was sad he had to see it.  


“I’m okay now, don’t worry.” She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt like the luckiest person in the world to have a best friend so kind and understandable. They were all about fun all of the time, but when something serious went down, they could rely on each other.  


“Just tired as hell.” She said half yawning.  


“No wonder. Wait here.” Harry said, going to his room.  


He decided it would be for the best to put his research away for the day and rest. He locked his notebooks into a drawer and closed his laptop. Taking a blanket from his bed, he went back to the living room.  


He put the blanket over Alexa’s shoulder and gestured for her to get up. She did so and followed him back into his room.  


“We’re gonna sleep here tonight, okay?” Harry said as they sat on the bed.  


“Well well, don’t you remember how uncomfortable it was the last time we did weird things?” Alexa’s mouth opened wide with her specific laughter, which made Harry much happier.  


“C’mon, I will even let you be the small spoon!” Harry joked right back as they made themselves comfortable on the bed. He knew his presence wouldn’t scare the nightmares away, but he felt better even if he could provide a false sense of safety. And if something happened, he would be right there when she’d have woken up to make everything good again. Alexa would probably be completely fine going to her bed by her own, but Harry wouldn’t let her. He was very protective of the people closest to him. He would never hurt them or let anyone else do such thing.  


He was able to let all his work out of his mind for the evening. He knew he probably wouldn’t finish everything that day anyway, so he might as well spend the time with Alexa.  


He put his arm around her, as if he could create an invisible shield against the evil and let the weariness take over.

\---------  


Harry woke up late for school, but let Alexa sleep anyway and slipped from the bed quietly. It seemed like she slept throughout the rest of the night. Harry fixed up something for breakfast and quietly took his laptop to living room to start working again. He didn’t regret the time he lost the night before, but was eager to get back on track.  


He quickly scrolled through the tabs to refresh his memory and then decided he should hack into the dead man’s email adress. Even though he knew how to hack into something using all the proper codes and stuff, he always tried simply guessing the password first.  


The man had two adresses, but Harry went for the private one as he was sure someone wouldn’t just plan something with bad intentions over his work adress.  


He typed the adress he found on social media into the username box. First, he started typing in the names of the people close to him, combined with some important dates in several ways. This was quite the annoying part, he could be trying for hours and still not get in. It would be easier to go around it all and hack into it right away, but in a way, it was an adventure. When he did succeed, he felt a bit of a genuine happiness, like a kid that gets something they wished for for Christmas.  


This time, it took him only about twenty minutes. The password was the name of his wife combined with their wedding date. How shallow and pretentious.  


Harry went through all the messages, finding an interesting conversation between the murdered and another man. He looked him up to find out he wasn’t a very good man. He already did some time for money laundry. According to the messages, it looked like he didn’t learn from his sentence. That must’ve been the reason there was a Joker. Love, money and whatever he was willing to do for it.  


“What time is it?” Alexa appeared in the room, stretching her arms after the long sleep.  


“It’s eleven o’clock. I tought we’d sleep in and ditch school today.” Harry said, getting up, bringing the breakfast he prepared earlier.  


“Oh, I can get used to that.” Alexa answered, taking a bite.  


“Well, you better don’t.” Harry teased her. The truth was he was the one who did the cooking most of the time, anyway. He liked being in control of the prepared food and if anyone enjoyed eating it, only better.  


After a long breakfast, Alexa headed to her room to work on art project.  


“Thanks for the breakfast.” She said putting the plates into a sink.  


“And for letting me be the small spoon!” She added when going to her bedroom.  


“Don’t get used to that either!” Harry shouted at her as she was closing the door. He was glad she didn’t lose her sense of humour and knew that her thanks were sincere.  


Harry took his laptop to his room and got back to work. He already knew what he is going to kill someone for, but still didn’t know who that was going to be.  


He looked up all the middle-age rich men in his neighborhood, which wasn’t very hard, because they didn’t really hide their status.  


By the time Alexa finished her project, he managed to look through all the men to find one he had a slight connection too. As usual, everyone but his wife knew about one of her friends helping her husband with more than just his company. He was also under investigation for tax fraud, but it was put aside for the lack of evidence. It was when the first murders started, so it was more because the police didn’t have time and men to deal with something else.  


He went through everything again, to be sure he chose the right person. He did. The name of his next victim was Beckett Wellington.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: quite a lot of violence

In the following days, Harry had gathered all the information he needed to close that chapter. He went through everything he could find on the Internet for hours, he followed Beckett on his way to work, on his way home, he knew about every turn he did and was about to do next day.  


It was Thursday. Harry woke up as usual, and as usual he went to school. It was a boring day with mostly boring classes, English and Chemistry were the only subjects that had a bit of his attention. Other than that, his mind was somewhere else. He was going through the plan over and over again. Every place he was going to visit, every bus stop he was going to pass.  


He was counting down the minutes of his last period, nervous and impatient to get on with his plan. As the bell rang, he found himself being one of the first people to run out of the classroom.  


His first stop was school’s basement. It wasn’t hard to get to the place as the janitor is always running around school, not able to catch every madly-in-love teenage couple wandering into restricted areas.  


He quietly ran to one of the corners of the big room, where there was a small wooden box on the floor. Cacophonous noises could be heard from inside, scratches and knocking that gave Harry goosebumps. He lifted the lid a bit to look inside, to see an enourmous angry-looking rat. As he realised what he was about to do, he felt uneasy and just wanted to get it over with. Altough, he was quite proud of thinking of catching the rat instead of buying it somewhere, which could lead to revealing his identity and destroying everything he worked so hard on.  


He put the lid back on and put the box in his bag. The first part of the plan was finished, so he could move to part two.  


He took a bus and got off one stop before he was supposed to, only to be sure. Just a few minutes before a car parked in one of small dark alleys, he got there and prepared everything. Checked the streets for any surveillance cameras or suspicious people for the last time. He put his hair in a bun and put a cap on, to stop any hair from falling out, thus leaving his DNA at the crime scene. Then he put a black hoodie and leather gloves on and waited.  


Beckett parked exactly where expected, got out of the car and headed to a shop nearby. Harry used the old ‘bumping into someone and accidentally make everything fall out of their bag’ trick to get the car keys. As he was helping Wellington get everything back, he gently pressed the ‘unlock’ button to open the car and gave the keys to Beckett. He mumbled a sour thank you and carried on.  


Harry almost had him. It was any minute now. He sneaked into the car and sat in the back. He could have just break in, but he didn’t want to draw attention. Only to his advantage, he had black windows, so noone from the outside could see him just sitting in there, waiting for his victim to come.  


He put his bag next to him, checking on the disgusting screeching animal he kept in there and took out a taser he borrowed from Alexa to get ready.  


In a few minutes, a person was coming towards the car with two plastic bags. A moment later, the lights caused for Harry to see that this time it was Beckett Wellington. Harry got down as Beckett unlocked his already unlocked car and got in. He arranged all the bags the seat next to him and looked for something in them for a bit. As he was leaned over, it was a perfect position for Harry to strike. He quickly pushed the taser in his hand onto Beckett’s neck and pushed a button, causing a loud clicking noise with a streak of blue light coming out of the device.  


His body freezed, every muscle in his body was tense and eventually he passed out. First thing Harry did was putting a tape over his mouth and tied his hands with a rope. He didn’t have to play any charade for the people outside as they couldn’t see in unless they glued their faces to one of the windows. With a few pushes he moved Beckett into the passenger’s seat and then himself re-entered the car, ready to drive. He has a licence for a few years already, but didn’t have his own car. He could use Alexa’s whenever it was available. It was an old car, suiting Alexa pretty well, she always said she would rather drive a dirty iron box than a brand new car where she would fear every little scratch. That being said, Harry was just about to drive the fanciest car he ever sat in.  


He did everything very carefully, not to leave any marks or clues behind. He started the car and slowly stepped on the pedal. It moved very smoothly. There was something soothing about it, but at the same time it was a bit of a bore, as he had to do next to nothing to drive the car.  


It took him about ten minutes to get to the destination, an old warehouse. It used to be some factory, long before machines and robots started making everything and people were no longer needed. Ocassionaly, homeless people or drunk addicts could be seen there, so Harry had to be cautious not to be seen.  


He parked the car on the more hidden side of the building. He sat there, waiting for his Wellington to regain his consciousness. Meanwhile, he put a bag over his head and checked his jacket for any devices that could provide recordings and such. He only found his phone, which he put in a case in the car.  


Beckett took a big breath and jerked. Harry was smart enough not to show his voice until they were where Harry wanted to.  


“Shhhh.” He only let out a demanding sound and put a knife to his throat.  


Beckett understood the message and stopped moving.  


Harry threw his bag over his shoulder, causing the rat to let out a squeaky noise, then he grabbed the man by his arm and after checking the street he pulled him out of the car. He turned left as he knew that on the right side there was a camera.  


They entered the warehouse. It was a dark, dusty building. In some places there were empty bottles and food packaging laying on the floor, next to dirty sleeping bags, blankets and anything that could be used when sleeping.  


Going through several rooms, Harry was lucky enough to find all of them empty and didn’t have to hide from anyone. He brought Beckett to one of the rooms in the basement. Normally, it was empty, but Harry had some things prepared there. In the corner opposite of the door, there was an old matress, crammed between two old pipes ascending all the way to the ceiling. Next to the improvised bed, a couple of heavy looking boards were laying unorganized.  


Harry dragged Wellington into the room, closed the door behind him and pushed Wellington on the matress. He untied his hands just tie them again, this time each to the pipes surrounding him from sides. Harry dramatically took off the bag that was over Beckett’s head. He threw it on the ground and took a few steps away, as if giving his victim to get a good look on his kidnapper.  


After he felt like Beckett had a chance to imprint the picture in his memory, he bend his long legs to face the victim sitting on the ground and waved the knife in front his face.  


“Oh Beckett.” he smiled pleasantly as a reaction to the endless fear in Wellington’s eyes. There came a part that Harry loved. The conversation with the victim. Getting to know them on a level noone else ever would. He wasn’t looking forward to the deed at all this time. It was sick. He knew he had to do it, but he felt very uneasy.  


Harry stopped thinking about what was going to happen after their talk and just sunk into the joy of the moment.  


“Beckett Wellington.” He said again right into his face, as if making the victim very aware of who they are.  


“I am going to take the tape off of your mouth. But if you scream. You know, I hate it when people scream. If they scream without a cause. So, if you do scream, I am going to give you a reason to.” Harry said as he slowly caressed Beckett’s finger with the knife. “Or more.” He added jokingly as he moved the weapon across his whole hand.  


“Are we clear?” Harry asked, his voice suddenly sounding so friendly it was everything but natural.  


With his eyes widened, Beckett nodded frantically.  


Harry took of the tape quickly, making Beckett let out a painful sigh.  


“What is this about? Money? Power? What the hell do you want from me?” He asked, trying to sound brave, but unable to hide the fear shaking his voice.  


“Beckett, come on.” Harry answered with a frown on his face, sad he would think so low of him. “That is not even remotely close. Altough, those are the things you wanted so much that they got you here.” He finished, his eyes glowing.  


“What are you talking about?” Beckett asked angrily, which entertained Harry.  


“Enlighten me, Mr. Wellington. How could you do any of those thing to such a lovely lady as Mrs. Wellington? She stood by you no matter what, didn’t she? But you still went and found some young slutty golddigger. Congratulations, really.” Harry said sarcastically. Beckett looked like he was about to explode from the guilt and fear building up inside.  


“You don’t understand.” He tried to argue soundly.  


“Oh, I understand.” Harry interupted him. “I understand, that you have done some pretty questionable things. That you have sinned for money. For power. That you had betrayed the one person that loved you.”  


“What do you want?” He asked desperately once again.  


“Oh God, seriously?” Harry stood up, walking back and forth across the room. “This is about what you want. Or don’t. Do you want to die, Beckett?” Harry asked honestly, a big smile creating dimples on his cheeks as he walked to his bag to take out the chess figure.  


The man didn’t like a word Harry was saying. When he took out the black horse, he realised who was holding him hostage.  


“You are sick!” He shouted at Harry, which didn’t please him.  


“Am I?” He walked over to his victim and put the tape back on his mouth. “Just so you know, I didn’t come up with all this. And I really hate that I have to do it. That it has to be done this way. And as much as I enjoyed our talk, it’s time to move on, don’t you think?” Harry finished, watching Beckett’s chest moving quicker and quicker.  


He pulled his legs, to make him lay on the matress. Beckett tried to fight it, but Harry, even though he didn’t look it, was much stronger. He tossed all the heavy boards onto Beckett’s legs to prevent him from moving. He cringed as a dull heavy pain run through his knee.  


Harry then carefully put the black horse figure next to the matress and finally took the wooden box out of the bag. He didn’t want to do it at all. He would rather laugh in his victim’s face for eternity than witness what was about to happen. But there was no other way.  


He took a lid off and quickly put the box on Beckett’s stomach, the bottom upwards. He tied it tightly to his torso and pulled a lighter out of his pocket. He starting heating up the box, being careful not to burn the rope.  


After a while, the box was hot enough it was really hard to keep a hand on it. From inside, a furious movement could be heard and the shirt Beckett was wearing was being pulled and torn by the animal. It was about to fight its way out.  


It was screeching and scraping, bouncing from the wooden walls. Beckett’s eyes seemed as if they were to pop out of his head from the horror and pain that run through his body. Harry held the lighter above the box, looking away from what was happening. He couldn’t wait for it to be over.  


He didn’t mind the blood, obviously, but he hated rats so much. He also wasn’t fond of the messiness.  


Beckett would scream if he didn’t have the tape over his mouth, with it there were only subdued noises coming out of his inflated cheeks.  


Blood started appearing around the box, brightly coloring what was left of the shirt. Wellington’s face was getting more pale with every scratch.  


It took much longer than Harry wished to, but after long enough, he could hear Beckett’s breath becoming shallow, the last one awaiting. Harry felt quite sick, as one side of the box began to slowly sink into a bloody gap where his victim’s abdomen was.  


After another long minute, there was a pool of blood big enough for Harry to know it’s over. Beckett wasn’t breathing anymore. He bled to death. Slowly and painfully.  
Harry could finally rest his hand and put the lighter away. He cut the ropes holding the box, but it didn’t fell off. It stayed partly on, partly inside the body. With one hand, Harry reached for it, the knife in the other to protect himself against the rodent.  


As he lifted the box off, he instantly wished he hadn’t done it. In front of him, there was a corpse with a scratched hole. It was deep enough for part of his intestines to stick out. Harry could tell apart the mesentery, its yellow-ish colour started revealing itself as the blood was dripping down from it.  


He leaned over a bit more and surpressed the urge to vomit. The rat laid there, in the abdominal cavity, dead. It drowned in the blood.  


Harry felt disgusted. He knew he should have been happy that he passed the hardest test, he knew his next task would be a reward and he calmed himself down with a few deep breaths.  


He put the box next to the body and neatly arranged the horse figure inside. Then took his bag and checked the room to be sure everything was left as he wanted it to be.  
He took one last long look at the scenery and a satisfaction started to overflow the frustration. Then he turned around and left, closing the door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a great day. Louis' favourite client released an EP and they could finally have some rest after hectic weeks of preparation. They were having a little celebration in the office, with cake and champagne.

"You did it again, Tomlinson." Jeff said as he raised his glass for a toast. "You turned potential into perfection. Good luck to you and to Shelby on your next journey." He finished.

Loud cheers resonated through the room, followed by the clicking of glass. Louis wasn't really in a mood to celebrate. He found out there has been another murder, and was eager to get home to read and watch everything about it, but decided to stay for a bit.

He sat in a chair, casually conversating with co-workers he barely gets to work with.

After a good half an hour, he must have briefly talked and accepted congratulations from everyone who worked in the office.

From the other side of the big hall, a woman walking in his direction got close enough for him to recognize her.

It was Elizabeth and she looked mad. A little girl emerged from behind her and run towards Louis.

"Darcy!" Louis said dimly as he hugged her.

"Sweetie, can you go outside for a bit, I am just going to talk to Louis about some adult things, ok?" The woman said in a sweet voice.

"Jeff!" Louis shouted at him to come. "Can you please take care of Darcy here for a minute?" He asked, leaving Jeff surprised.

"Sure." He said after, assuming it was important.

Darcy inspected Jeff suspiciously, deciding if he was trust-worthy.

"Don't worry, honey, uncle Jeff is nice and he has a lot of sweets in his office!" Louis encouraged her as Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

After a moment, Darcy took his hand and they walked out of the room, going for a piece of cake as big smiles appeared when people got a glimpse of the cute little lady.

"Sorry to crash your party, but do you have any idea what day it is?" Elizabeth asked. She wasn't screaming, but Louis knew it would take one bad word for her to start.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry, we had a big release and I forgot I was supposed to pick her up today, you know it's usually tomorrow." He decided to play it safe, so she wouldn't make a scene in front of everyone.

"Well, that's great, I'm glad you know your priorities." She said ironically. "I am late, so I am going to go now, be kind enough and don't forget to drive her to school on Monday, you think you can do that?" She was acting really bitchy now.

"Yes, I think I might be capable of doing that, also it would really help if you left already." Louis didn't want to be mean to her, but she was just asking for it.

Elizabeth turned around in a haughty manner and entered the hall to say goodbye to little Darcy. She gave her a kiss, then a bit sarcasticaly waved at Louis and left.

Darcy just stood, looking at Louis, a big smile on her face, waiting for whatever was going to happen. Louis also gave her a big kiss.

"Hey sweetie, why don't you go grab another piece of cake or something you want and then I am all yours!" He suggested.

She happily nodded her head in agreement and run off to her new friends - Louis' co-workers.

"Wow, Tomlinson," Jeff started, "your sister is hot!"

Louis could have easily go with that, but with the little one around it was impossible to keep the truth just for themselves.

"Daaaaad!" She shouted across the room, half her face covered in the cake, but she looked so excited and beatifically Louis didn't have the heart to tell her off for the mess. He returned the smile and went to get her.

"It's not my sister." He said simply, turning to Jeff.

Everyone turned to Louis, surprised and shocked about the fact he has a kid. A beautiful daughter, who is already so big and none of them knew.

Jeff followed them, sitting down at a long table, joining the playful celebration, that Darcy brightened endlessly.

Everyone talked to her, asked her million questions she enthusiastically answered. Jeff then tilted to Louis and quietly, yet strongly started asking too.

"What the hell, Tomlinson? You have a kid?" He started. "I've known you for years, why did you never tell me? I can't believe this!" He sounded a bit mad and hurt, but mostly just in awe.

"You know I don't like to mix my personal life with work. I'm sorry, I guess kid is something worth telling?" Louis decided to choose the safe path again and laughed it off, hoping Jeff wouldn't make a big deal out of it. He didn't really care what he thought to be honest, but he didn't want to be caught in some drama that could interfere with his work. It was enough that now he would be constantly asked about how is his daughter doing.

"Okay, I guess, but I still can't believe it!" Jeff finished and got back to interviewing Darcy with everyone.

Louis used this time to check his phone for news, one of them interesting him in particular.

"A mutilated body of a middle-aged man was discovered yesterday evening in an old warehouse in Nether street. It has been confirmed that a black horse chess figure was present close to the body. The identity is not known to the public yet. That is all that has been revealed so far, due to the ongoing investigation." Read the lead paragraph of an article, but that was all Louis needed to know. He did it. He passed the hardest test. He was almost at the finish line.

Louis' thoughts were interrupted by loud laughs of his daughter, making himself go from pensive manager to a big ball of sunshine. He couldn't stop smiling whenever she did, small wrinkle creating around his eyes, only adding on the genuineness.

He hated himself for, right after he found out Elizabeth was pregnant, thinking she was going to be the biggest mistake of his life. It was a one-time young didn’t know better drunk mistake, Louis really wasn’t big on relationship and love. It was true that Elizabeth with the time they shared became probably the last person he would want to be romantically involved with, but Darcy made up for all of that and he cherished every second he got to spend with her and watch her grow up into an amazing person. It was precious, how much happiness she spread around and Louis hoped she would have this inner happy child in her for her whole life.

"Dad," she appeared from under the table, "can we go see a movie with uncle Jeff?"

Louis wasn't too thrilled to spend time with Jeff after work, but what could he do if it was Darcy asking. She was very nice to everyone and actually her 6th birthday was coming up, so she deserved a movie.

"Okay, okay, but we need to get this stuff home first. Alright?" He said, pointing at the bags Elizabeth left there.

"Yes, thank you!" She said, hugging her dad and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Everyone looked at them smiling at how cute and clever girl they got to meet.

Louis got up from his chair and turned to everyone. "I guess we will be going, thank you so much for this, let's hope we will have more and more reasons to celebrate with the upcoming releases. Thank you." He said politely as everyone nodded in agreement.

Louis picked up all the bags with Darcy and Jeff following him out the door. 

 

\-----

 

They got there in about half an hour.

"I need you two to stay here, okay? I'll just be a second." Louis told them when they got to the street he lived in.

"Dad, can I show Jeff my room? I will show him all my toys!" Darcy asked, but Louis disagreed.

"After the movie, what do you say? I will just get this stuff and then we can go!" He said.

Darcy looked sad, but understanding, meanwhile Jeff's expression didn't hide him wondering why can't they just go.

As Louis stood in the elevator, waiting to get to sixth floor, he sent Jeff a quick message, explaining that Darcy was supposed to come the next day and Louis had to hide the gifts he had bought for her birthday. That was a very rational reason, except it wasn't true.

He did have gifts for Darcy, but already wrapped and hidden. What he needed to do was hide all the stuff, that could reveal his secrets, especially the pin boards. He stuffed all the papers and the cards and figures into lockable drawers. Then he took the pin boards down, turned them and put them back up. On the other side, there were two beautiful paintings, the perfect cover.

The left one was a painting of still life, a forest in the foreground, leading to big hills covered in grass, the whole picture dominated by shades of green and blue. There was a little caption in the corner revealing the name - 'To the hills we go'.

The second one was also still life, yet completely different. It was a sort of an apocalyptic sight, with an enormous dunes occupying most of the canvas, yellow, brown and black colours were leading the dark tone present to the whole picture. It could have been a continuation of the first painting. This time, the caption revealed - 'Run for the hills before they burn'.

Now the apartment was turned from murderer's lair into a nice place, ready to recieve hosts. Louis locked the door and got back to Darcy and Jeff waiting outside. They headed to the cinema, to Jeff's surprise, Darcy chose the Avengers sequel, only making Louis a proud father. 

 

\-----

 

After the movie, they all went back to Louis' flat as promised. He wasn't nervous anymore, because everything was at its place. Darcy was very excited as she got to do a room tour for Jeff. She run off as soon as the door opened, dragging him behind. 

Her room was quite spacious, a lot of posters hanging on blue walls.

"Wow!" Jeff let out. She had many superhero figures, posters, books, even comics. It was a paradise for every fan. Jeff turned to Louis in astonishment.

"What can I say, she loves superheroes, don't you, little one?" Louis said as he cheekily raised his arms and smiled even more than before.

"I am not little!" Darcy opposed playfuly offended.

"Oh of course not, darling, you are big and strong like Wonder Woman!" Louis told her and her laugh resonated the room as she threw one arm in the air and pretended she was flying.

Darcy, Louis and Jeff debated some more, most of the time fighting about what character is the best one. It got dark pretty quickly and after Jeff left, Darcy had a bath and was ready to go to sleep.

Louis sat down next to her on the beed and put a blanket over her.

"Dad, will you braid my hair tomorrow?" She asked, her eyes almost closed.

"Honey, I always do, don't I?" He answered. Darcy nodded agreeably as Louis turned the light off.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too. Sweet dreams." He whispered back and closed the door. Louis often wondered, how could this one little person turn everything horrible happening in the world, including himself, into the most beautiful and genuine time, but he was going to make the most of it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: description of human anatomy

Harry couldn't believe there was only one left. He was better now, but the evening after, it was really bad. It took a lot not to spend the night hugging the toilet bowl. He told Alexa he wasn't feeling well and locked himself in the room. After he figured out the connections, he blankly crossed out another name of the possible murderer.

He couldn't sleep, so he read until he finished the book he was reading at the monent. Satisfied with the end of it, he went to sleep, thinking about the characters and their lives more than about his own.

For a few days, he just kept himself distracted, hanging out with Alexa, doing actual assingments and whatever made him busy. He didn't think it would be such a big deal, that it would be enough to sleep it off.

After a while he really was better, it felt like such a distant memory it didn't bother him anymore. Almost like something you are not sure about being a dream or not, the realness of it being reminded only by the headlines in the press. He was ready to start preparing the last one. He sat in class, thinking about what he have achieved in such a short time, not able to hide pride.

"Mr. Styles, do you have your lab coat?" His teacher asked. She used every opportunity she had to mock him for being smarter than she was. He got cought up in day-dreaming and as he looked around everyone had their coats prepared but him. Fortunately, he didn't forget, only had it in his bag, so he couldn't resist slowly taking it out to shut her up. Once again, he could see his classmates trying to hide a laugh at something he said or did to her, making him entertained and satisfied.

"Let's go then." She said and rushed out of the room, the students following her.

They got through a long hallway with cold white floor and white walls, only a few educational posters giving it some color. In front of them a big white painted wooden door were locked. Harry was nervous, but excited. He had seen a lot, but still he couldn't wait.

The teacher turned the key and with a loud click unlocked the door, revealing another hall, not as long this time. More doors appeared on the side, surrounded by big shelves.

The students separated into several groups, each one running to one of the shelves, some looking with excitement, some with disgust. Harry didn't join any, but slowly walked in the middle of the hall, trying to imprint every picture into his mind. Some of the shelves even he found disturbing, especially those showing small ones, from embryos to fully developed babies. He was thinking it was not fair to them, that they didn't get to live, have a chance to be, to be good. Instead, the horrible people he dealt with got to have a full and successful life. He knew he couldn't think about it like that. Now, they were very important. They might have helped someone learn about the human body, maybe become a doctor and save more innocent lives. It seemed unhuman, but they all had to think about them this way, as a study material, otherwise they wouldn't be able to learn anything.

Still, Harry was excited to be there. He could get over it and learn, but he was also excited to see the differences. He knew how it looks inside, when it is all about to stop. When the last breath just left the lungs, when the last heartbeat struck. Then it had been all about justice and his mission. Now it was about science. The same thing, human body, yet so different. 

"Can everyone please follow me?" The teacher calmly shouted from the other side of the hall, as if understanding what the students felt and thought. For a second, Harry liked her a little better. She was standing in front of another big white door, ready to open it as soon as everyone gathers. 

"Okay." she started when the last student caught up. "If anyone feels sick, toilets are here." She said seriously, but a few students let out a laugh anyway. Harry memorized them, to see if those who thought they were too cool were really going to be fine. "Everyone takes a pair of these rubber gloves. An hour might seem like a lot of time, but there are a lot of preparates to learn from, so don't waste your time, this is your only chance this semester." She finished as she pulled the handle, letting the group inside. 

Another big room followed. White walls, white floor, a few plastic tables pushed aside. The remaining space was filled four big stone tables resembling elipse. Each of them big enough for a body to lay on it. 

More rooms like this where joined together by a hole in a wall, missing door. The one they entered was empty, so they moved on. 

The third one was the one they were meaning to go to. In front of them similar room was revealed, with three different bodies laying on three out of the four tabels. The first thing that punched Harry in the face was the smell. He knew it would be completely different from what he encountered, but still, it surprised him how strong it was, the alcohol-ish smell getting all the way into his nose. 

He joined one of the smaller groups to get to one of the bodies, an old woman with skin removed, showing all the muscles, even on the face. Some of the muscles looked like they would rip with one more pull, as the student always tried which one providedmwhat movement. It was unusual for Harry to see the whole thing without blood all around. Muscles was the part that he liked the less, so he chose it first to be done soon. One thing was amzing to him though, and that was a pacemaker operated into the pectoral muscle of the woman, helping her heart beat properly when she was alive. 

The second body focused on the digestive system. There also could have been the mesenterium seen, which reminded Harry of the night he was pretty keen on forgetting. He did a quick revision, getting all the organs and structures right and getting to the last part.

In the last body Harry was interested the most. It was a man, his face white and wrinkly, feeling like a rubber, pieces of hair stuck to it, wet from the preserving substance. It didn't feel comfortable to look at him, with his eyes open and one of the laughing students quietly rushed out of the room, heading for the bathroom. The man's chest was open, revealing lungs and a big heart sat between them. Harry touched the left lung, which was much more spongy than he expected. Underneath the organs, he spotted some liquid. At the bottom of the ribcage, there was the preserving substance cumulated, with little pieces of unspecified dirt flowing in it. That was quite disgusting. He pretended it wasn't there, looking at how exactly the heart is positioned in the body. As there were no abdominal organs, he could finally see all the sections of the aorta and other big arteries. It was beautiful. They weren't red, as in all the pictures or when the blood still flows through them. It was actually pretty hard to tell arteries, venas and nerves apart, but Harry knew the subject very well and managed to do just fine. He spent a lot of time admiring this body, running through every arch of every visible artery, but then he realised there were more things to study. 

On the last table, three buckets appeared. As Harry looked what was inside, the smell punched him once again, making his eyes itch and tear up. One of them had livers inside, one had hearts and one brains. He put his hand into the alcohol, reaching for a liver, surprised at how cold the liquid was. 

To the liver other organs as esophageus and stomach or pancreas were attached. At first, it all looked like one unrecognizable squish, but after a while, Harry was able to put them all in order, his classmates copying his moves and learning along.

The second bucket had brains inside. He took one out. It was a whole one, some nerves and arteries could be seen at the bottom. The smell was really strong, Harry's eyes tearing up as he got a look too close.

"Do you know, why is this happening to you?" Rebecca, one of his classmates, asked as she took some cut up pieces out of the same bucket. Harry liked her, it was his favourite person in the biology class, being almost as smart as him. To answer the question, he shook his head. 

"It's because the brains need to be kept in more concentrated preserving substance so we could tell the grey and white matter apart. Which on some of these is pretty hard anyway." She enlightened him. It made sense. Only now the gray matter was in a shade of brown and the white was maybe a light beige. They spent some time naming the structures together and Harry then moved on to the last one. He looked around the room, to see some people vanished and some of them were just roaming around pretending to do something. He couldn't understand how they could waste such opportunity.

He took out two hearts. As it was quite hot that day, the liquid warmed up and could be about a body temperature now, which was not pleasant to sink a hand in.

The first heart was small, everything intacted how it was supposed to be and really easy to work with. He wondered if it belonged to someone who did sport, or was young or anything as it really seemed to be in amazing shape. 

The second one, on the other hand, was very big and part of the left ventricle was black. That must have meant that the tissue died and whomever the heart belonged to probably had a heart attack. Both the aorta and the truncus pulmonaris were enourmous compared to the first heart. He took each in one hand and compared every little thing. 

"I thought you were just being a smart-ass, trying to undermine my authority" an old voice resonated from behind, "but you are really interested in all this, aren't you?" 

Harry turned around to see his teacher, the woman always trying to wear him down. His expression must have revealed he felt extraordinary looking at those hearts. 

"You have no idea." He answered seriously, but friendly. There was no need to start a fight this time. It was a bit funny to him, because he thought the exact same thing - about undermining his personality - she was doing to him. He used the moment to ask some more genuine questions about the topic he didn't know an answer to. He knew a lot, so what he asked about usually wasn't easy to answer. 

"You should really think about going to med school." The teacher said in the end.

"I will." He simply answered. 

"Okay students, the time's up. Let's go!" She said to the remaining students and they all started slowly moving towards the door. 

Harry felt very good about the day. He was still in a little shock about the teacher being actually nice to him, but he knew he could really benefit from it, and learn even more instead of fighting her. Not for school only, but also for his hobby. His mission. His head was cleared from all the bad things that happened in the last weeks.

He was ready to prepare for the grand finale.


	8. Chapter 8

"Have a nice week, sweetie!" Louis said as Darcy gave him a big kiss on the cheek. 

"You too, dad!" She said in a cute voice and run to jump into her mother's car. After closing the door, Darcy glued her face to the window, making funny faces at her dad. He returned the favour and then laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

He waited for the car to be out of sight. Then he turned around and entered the building he worked in.

Sitting down to his chair, he was thinking about what he has to do that day. There wasn't much, he only had one meeting about a promo strategy for one of the acts. 

A few days passed after the last murder, but articles about it still appeared, talking about how the police progressed.

"After a long time of investigation, it has been revealed that there is a pattern between these and the infamous series of chess murders. There are basically two options - it is the same person doing the killings or someone is trying to pose as the famous murderer, trying to get attention. Either way, a mistake is inevitable and it will lead us to both of them." The article read, quoting a spokeswoman for the police. 

"No shit, Sherlock." Louis couldn't help but laugh. He was sure Darcy would be able to find out more having all the information police had. He also wasn't afraid of police knowing more than they are letting out.

Anyway, he was way more interested in the murderer than the police. If it is a man, or a woman, how old, how tall, everything about them. He couldn't even know if the person is doing it to find him or just to lead the police off the trail, but he was pretty sure he was the reason. Serial killers crave the attention, so why would someone even want to have it as one of the possibilites for someone else to take the credit, unless it had something to do with him. Of course he could make himself the same relationship map and look the people that could be the killers and it did cross his mind, but that would take away the element of surprise when his or her face would be revealed in real life, in front of Louis' eyes. 

He was wondering if police everywhere was this dumb, or maybe if it really was a hard case to crack, only seeming easy to him because he was the master mind behind the whole thing.

Altough they never got to him, Louis remember the time he basically got to them. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the last one. He already knew it was going to be his final performance, so he wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. 

It wasn't that cold in November for a very long time, maybe even as long as Louis could remember. He loved winter. He especially enjoyed walks when it was getting dark outside, something about the street lights shining upon the cold white quiet blanket covering everything felt very peaceful. It was beautiful. An idea ocurred in Louis' mind, giving him chills from the excitement.

He had everything already prepared and went over it several times, but still he couldn't help himself from being nervous. Maybe it was because of the change he made last minute or because it was the last time he got to serve justice. From the beginning, he knew this one was going to be last. He didn't know why, but it felt like he had gone a full circle and it was time to finish the last chapter. 

His victim was a woman. She was average. In her thirties, beautiful, succesful thanks to her unusual methods of blackmailing and using inoccent people to get what she pointed her finger at and wasn't hers.

After he had gone over everything, he put all he needed in a bag, put a warm black hoodie on and quietly closed the door of his apartment.

Even though he didn’t live too far from his destination, he didn’t remember ever being there, apart from lately when checking the situation. It was that part of the town, where only big houses with even bigger gardens were built and fancy cars were parked in the garage.

With the job he had, Louis could actually afford to live in a place like this, but never really had a need to. Maybe one day, when Darcy is bigger or he wants to live with someone, but there was no reason for him to waste money on a house that would in the end be mostly empty. As he was by himself, he also wouldn’t want to attract the attention on himself. He thought of these neighborhoods as a community, rich people getting together, talking about their money over a glass of old whiskey, which always reminded him of the scene in Titanic, where the men let the women do their stuff and bragged about success to each other. It might have been about a hundred years later, but Louis still wasn’t about to do fancy. He’d probably minded it a lot less if it wasn’t like that. Well, there was some chance it actually wasn’t, but that was how he saw it. And he really liked the anonymity that came with living in a loft in a building like every other in a mile radius.

When he got there, it was dark, but not late. At least not late enough for all the people to be home already. He used the time to just stroll around a very well-kept park, which, covered in snow, looked kind of like out of a fairytale.

The time has passed, Louis followed the journey of every snowlake in his sight. He didn’t understand, how could anything feel so mesmerizing, especially to him. He looked down at his watch to see almost two hours flew by. The streets got even quieter and the houses lit up as people were home, having dinner or watching television. It was time.

He walked over to behind her house, there was a little area where he couldn’t be seen by anyone unless wanted to. All he had to do now was wait, when she comes out to take the garbage out, have a cigarette or whatever she did, but she went out for a bit every night, as Louis knew from him previous findings.

He was hoping it would be the case that day too and that it wouldn’t take too long. To his luck, it might have been around fifteen minutes, when he could hear the door swing and his victim coming down the few stairs. She sat on it, getting one from the pack. Louis realized he wouldn’t want her to smell like an ashtray as he had to get very close to her, so he had to do it before she smoked.

He kicked into a bucket next to him, to attract some attention, still not being seen.  
“Fuckin’ racoons.” The woman said, annoyed as she put everything on the floor and came Louis’ way.

The moment she got close enough, Louis did a quick move forward and hit her with a dull side of a small spade. As it sent her to the ground, she let out a loud painful sigh, followed by a sound of twigs breaking as she hit one of the evergreen shrubs.

“Did you hear that?” Someone said, sounding not too far away.

Louis quickly moved the unconscious body behind a bin, so it wouldn’t be seen from the side the voice was coming from and focused his hearing on it.

“I don’t care. Do you want the stuff or not?” Another voice said.

“Of course. Is it the same quality as the last time? That was some good shit.” The first guy answered.

Louis knew he had heard that voice before. After another bit of the conversation, he realized he went to high school with one of the guys. He was older and had no idea who Louis was, but Louis was the one who watched and remembered everyone’s faces. He also remembered that the guy works as a police officer and what those two men were talking about didn’t sound completely legal.

He checked on the woman, to make sure she was still out and decided for a very bold move. He stood up straight, pulled the hood more into his face and made his way over to the side of the fence where they were. The street light was directed in Louis’ favour, right at the men, so he couldn’t be properly seen anyway.

“Can I help you with something?” Louis asked politely.

“Why don’t you mind your own business?” The other guy said, being rude as he was trying to subtly put a small bag containing a white substance in his pocket.

“I do, I just wouldn’t want anything bad to be happening in our neighborhood, right, Mr. Officer?” Louis answered. He couldn’t but smile a little about what he just said about those two compared to what he was about to do in a while.

The young man turned almost as white as the snow, every sign of healthy color dissapearing from his face. Someone knew who he was and what he was doing wasn’t exactly right.

“That is exactly right.” The man said with a very shaky voice. “We wouldn’t want to disturb you, sir, enjoy your evening.” He finished and poked his companion to indicate they should be going. They quickly turned around and rushed away.

Louis knew they would put two and two together and realize they talked to the murderer, but he wasn’t threatened by it at all. He knew the policeman wouldn’t say a word, saving himself, let alone the man who was there with him. It was a lucky day for him, because he had found someone that could come in very handy if needed.

Louis could get back to the woman. To his suprise, she was still unconscious, so he used the time to put a piece of fabric over her mouth, so her screaming wouldn’t be heard when she woke up.

She came to her senses moments later, frantically gasping for air. Her make-up got smeared around her eyes as she started crying hysterically.

Louis wasn’t a fan of talking in general and talking with his victims was something he never wanted to do. It felt unnecessary and, in a way, warm. Telling them they were going to die, comfort them it would be over soon or threaten them, he found no need to do that and even felt like at least some of them didn’t deserve it.

He helped the woman up to her feet, as she was trying to scratch and punch Louis, with no success as he was wearing a long sleeves, protecting him from any superficial injuries.

He dragged her over to the other side of her garden, where the snow lacked any footsteps and was completely intact.

As he positioned himself behind her, he put one arm over her mouth, untying the fabric that made her quiet and letting it fall to the ground. After that, she was trying to get free, but couldn’t. She involuntarily took a small step forward, Louis following her, his feet getting cold from the snow.

They stood there. The woman wasn’t even fighting back anymore, as she probably understood it made no difference.

Out of his pocket, he took out a shaving blade. Altough it was old, it was still pretty shiny and very sharp.

With one swift move, he ran the blade over the woman’s skin, leaving her neck open. The blood flew out heavily as she fell to her knees and tried to let out a sound.

She was bleeding out very quickly. Louis laid her down carefully, so she wouldn’t disrupt the painting created on the ground. The stream falling and the snow accepting it as its own, vivified and enriched by the bright color. When the last drop finished the revival of the white cold emptiness, he did nothing, but looked at it. It was captivating.

He knew he couldn’t cross the finish line in a better way than he did.

That day, he might have made something fleeting, but he knew in his mind it would be engraved forever.


	9. Chapter 9

Jessica Reed was friends with everyone. Or at least the people thought she was. She always saw it more as an opportunity. Even Harry was in her circle of acquaintances, as they once briefly met at a party. Now they were going to meet once again, as she was the one to be his last.

She hosted quite a lot of dinners and parties herself in her residence. There was one coming soon, just a few days to prepare himself for the strike. He was very excited. Not only it was certainly going to be magnificent, but it was the last step before meeting his hero or heroine. He was so curious, he almost completed the map without doing it in real life, but luckily he stopped himself before it was too late.

He remembered her as a tall and beutiful woman. She wasn’t sun-tanned at all, so her black hair made her skin pop out. Her make-up was very well done and she re-applied her lipstick many times throughout the night.

She was laughing at almost everything anyone said. Harry felt like she was degrading herself to please to others. Not because she was that kind, but because it would come in handy. He thought she was very smart, maybe even as much as Harry, she just chose an unfortunate path for using it and she had to pay for it someday.

“Alexa?” Harry shouted as he went to make himself a cup of tea.

“Yup?” She said playfully, as she left her room to join him in the kitchen.

“Are you going to Reed’s party?” He asked her.

“Do I look like I’m going to a party right now?” She replied, but her laugh at the end implied it was a joke. She looked like a zombie due to the upcoming exams.

“Come on, I really wanted to go, but I wouldn’t know anyone if you didn’t come with!” He tried to talk her into it. “I haven’t been anywhere in ages because of the school and this is probably the last chance before my exams start.” Harry put on sad eyes and deeply looked at her, unable to hide a bit of a smile.

“Okay, okay!” She said defeated. “But once we go, we will stay there, don’t even think about coming to me after an hour that you are tired and want to go home!” She added.

“Sure.” He said and stuck out his toungue at her, which she returned instantly.

“Okay, I’ll see you on Friday then, until then it looks like I will be buried in textbooks and project I have to finish.” She smiled at Harry, took her cup and went back to her room.

“Good luck!” Harry wished her and also returned to his bedroom.

It was quite true that Harry didn’t usually stay too long at a party when he went. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to have fun, he just didn’t trust people he didn’t know that much, especially when they are drunk or high out of their minds. Thanks to that, and his looks, he was a target of interest to the people under the influence. Even normally he recieved a lot of staring for his hair or fashion style. He didn’t really care what people thought about him and did his own thing, but it was annoying when everyone assumed it’s completely okay to touch his hair. And that was probably the least offensive thing happening to him on a daily basis. As he was older, it still wasn’t okay, but he would take it as he is now, amazingly confident, wiser and healthy much rather than when he was just sixteen and older girls and women were hitting on him and he was known by nothing more than the hot guy by everyone, including the moms of his classmates and even some of the teachers.

Of course he couldn’t throw everyone into this category, he met some amazing people, but compared to those who didn’t plan on talking their number was next to zero. Now, it wasn’t that bad, but he every time he looked back, he didn’t understand how could anyone sexualize a teenager. Alexa was actually one of the few people that introduced herself properly and began a normal conversation with him. Maybe that was the reason he found her so charming and kissed her. He was glad it turned out the way it did with her. He realized he thought about her quite a lot lately, but it was probably because they didn’t spend so much time together anymore.

The hot tea flooding his mouth and burning his tongue brought him back from his thoughts. It happened to him, that he was about to plan something, but got lost in a maze of his mind for a good hour. Sometimes it came at the worst time, but he always learned or clarified something about himself or the world around him.

“Okay, back to the party.” He whispered to himself.

It wasn’t going to be like usually, getting in and out without being seen anywhere. This time, he needed to be seen by a lot of people there. Then he has to be seen leaving soon, even better if someone went with him as far as his flat. He felt bad for promising Alexa he would stay long, but there was no other way to do that. He was at least determined to spend the time there with her. Probably he would also help her get quite drunk so she wouldn’t be upset that he would go.

He would also have to make sure, to be seen on surveillance cameras in the streets on his way home. Also it would be smart not to leave first, just somewhere around the middle, he didn’t have to come back until very early in the morning anyway.

Maybe it would be great to make sure Alexa left with someone. She was the kind of person that didn’t end when the party did. She would without a doubt deserve some distraction from school and everything going on with her, especially her sleep. Even if it would end up as a one night stand and nothing else, Harry decided he would find her someone that night.

Harry realized that if someone were to spend the night with Jessica, it would be very convenient for him as he would probably become the main suspect. But that was thinking too much ahead.

A lot of things would have to be improvised on the spot. He didn’t know if there were any cameras in the house. He planned on going look at the place, but he wouldn’t find out these details anyway, so maybe he’d just go in blind. Many things could go wrong for someone having a plan like that. But not for Harry. He already accomplished so much it wasn’t going to fail now. Even if everything in the world conspired against him, he would do it right. He wasn’t scared of not knowing every single detal for once.

What he could plan ahead and needed to, was his way back to Jessica’s house. It was necessary that there would be no cameras and as little people as possible. It might end up being a long detour, but it would be worth it.

It was quite hard to believe that everything led up to him meeting the one. Harry never expected it would be so close, yet only few days, less than one hundred hours, separated him from the last name being revealed.


End file.
